Harbour Grace hires company for design work on park redevelopment

Harbour Grace town council is considering a partial redevelopment of Moriarity Park. - Compass file photo

HARBOUR GRACE, N.L. —

Harbour Grace town council took a further step towards potentially redeveloping a portion of a local park.

At the May 6 council meeting, a motion was approved to award a $6,500 contract to Mills & Wright Landscape Architecture to create a conceptual design for the redevelopment of the ball field located at the west end of Moriarity Park on Crosbie Road Extension.

At the previous council meeting, held April 8, Deputy Mayor Sonia Williams said she felt the park was not used enough by the public, adding it was time for the town to take a look at other ways it could be used.

Williams, who chairs the town’s parks and recreation committee, has suggested the ball field could be repurposed to include a ball hockey court that could be converted into a skating rink for the winter. Other ideas offered include a splash pad, basketball, community garden and dog park.

“We figure we get this done so we can apply for some funding,” Williams told her colleague at the May 6 meeting. “We can’t apply for funding if we haven’t got a plan.”

According to Willliams, the redevelopment of the field would likely need to happen during a number of years given its scope. That approach would be similar to how the Town of Bay Roberts handled development of its Wilbur Sparkes Recreation Complex.

Coun. Kevin Williams expressed concerns about awarding the contract without knowing exactly what the town would intend to put there. Coun. Kathy Tetford noted the company in question would be the expert on this and come back to the town with a plan that council could ultimately choose to walk away from if members felt it wasn’t feasible.